At chemical equilibrium, . Using the number-concentration form gives
Here is the reaction energy between the chosen molecular reference states. Rearranging,
Define the dimensionless concentration equilibrium constant by
Thus
The standard concentration has the same units as . It converts concentration ratios to ideal thermodynamic activities; changing it changes the numerical dimensionless for this dissociation, which creates an extra particle. The unnormalized quotient instead has concentration units.[ref]